Gallery Named in Honor of Chicago Game Advocate

Eric Mittereder (left), Jonathan Kinkley (right)

A wall at Chicago Gamespace has been named in honor of a fierce advocate for the video game community in Chicago: the late, great Eric Mittereder.

“Eric was the inaugural Vice President of Video Game Art (VGA) Gallery Board, handled the nonprofit incorporation of VGA, and was a civic leader for VGA for over six years. In his role as partner at Applegate & Thorne-Thomsen, Eric championed video games and donated countless pro bono hours to the organization, along with many others nonprofits in Chicago. I first met Eric through VGA co-founder Chaz Evans and business quickly bled into friendship. Epic nights unfolded across dinner parties, backyard barbecues, and dive bar crawls across Logan Square. Eric’s formidable legal and business acumen was outmatched only by his magnetism, vivacity, and joie de vivre. In honor of his advocacy and as a symbol of the depth of gratitude I hold to Eric, Gamespace will be elevated through the proud recognition of his name on our gallery walls. Beneath his name, this particular place will be devoted to a dazzling, rotating array of enthralling games and new media art, worthy of the brightest spotlight and public acclaim, with deepest sympathies to Alison and the Gilles and Mittereder families,”

• Jonathan Kinkley, Owner / Curator, Chicago Gamespace, and Co-Founder, former Executive Director, and Board Member, VGA Gallery